Talpash families emigrate to The United States of America

Before 1840 the USA was a developing country.

The population was 17 million (not counting the aboriginals or the slaves).

The Louisiana Purchase increased the size of the country, and new-comers were needed to inhabit the west.

The first big wave of immigrants:

1840-1880 - 'the old immigration,' - 8 million immigrants came to USA from Western and Northern Europe - the British, Irish, German, French and Scandanavians

The huge second wave:

1880-1930 - 'the new immigration,' - 23 million came from Europe, mostly from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe - Germans, Austrians, Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, Slovaks, Russians, Ukrainians, and many others.

Emigration from the crumbling Austrian, Prussian, Russian and British Empires was because overpopulation, the forced military service, and the hopeless economic prospects. Furthermore, agents from steamship lines were paid 'by the head' to fill the immigration ships with fare-paying passengers. These agents promised 'streets paved with gold' in America. 

When the immigrants arrived, they were resented by the established American population (most of whom were recent immigrants themselves). This hostility was because the newcomers were willing to work for smaller wages, were "different," spoke no English, and were soon introducing elements of their 'foreign' cultures, such as newspapers, churches and social institutions. Furthermore, established unions found that striking for improved wages and working conditions failed because mines or factories simply employed the cheaper immigrant labourers.

These were the circumstances into which the Talpash families came, starting with Theodosiy Talpash, in 1884.